The alchemical trinity of Chaparral

The perfume Chaparral is not a reference to the creosote bush, Larrea tridentata, which sometimes goes by many name chaparral, as well as greasewood and la gobernadora. I named the fragrance after the California biome distinguished by wet winters, hot summers and drought-tolerant shrub land. This biome is also found in the Mediterranean, South America, Australia and South Africa. The word chaparral comes from the Portuguese and Spanish word “chaparro" meaning evergreen oak shrub land.

Back in 2006, when Chaparral was conceived and launched, my intention was to bring awareness to this community of plants which are very undervalued in Los Angeles where residents opt for pesticide and water hungry lawns and non native palm trees, rather than the local sages, artemisias, oaks, etc. 

In creating the perfume Chaparral®, I weaved together my love and commitment to the indigenous plants of California with skills in aromatic plant preparation and the artistry of perfume formulation.

“Art arises when the secret vision of the artist

and the manifestation of nature

agree to find new shapes.”

~ Kahlil Gibran

My husband, Greg Spalenka states that there are three main components of great art which applies to the full spectrum of the sensory realm including visual, auditory, culinary and olfactory orchestrations.

He adheres to these three components as a trinity of "Mind, Body and Spirit":

Mind; the idea and/or concept

Body; representing the materials

Spirit; the love, passion, integrity and/or soul nature

In alchemy the trinity is Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt, code words for what is also referred to as "Soul, Spirit, and Body"

Sulfur = Soul = Consciousness 

Mercury = Spirit  = Mind

Salt = Body  = Mineral

So if we go back to Greg's trinity, I have overlayed Greg's trinity with that of alchemy in this way, substituting Greg's word Spirit for Soul/Love.

Mind; the idea and/or concept / Mercury = Spirit

Body; representing the materials / Salt = Body

Soul/Love, passion, integrity and/or soul nature / Sulfur = Soul, Consciousness

All these components, working together at a high level of sophistication and awareness, create a synergy, where each component becomes more than the sum of its parts.

In perfume the mind aspect (Mercury) is the concept that the fragrance is built on, encompassing much more than a scent based on a fragrance family or type. The body aspect (Salt) is made of the materials contained within the perfume, the artist’s palette. Soul (Sulphur) is the burning passion of your creation, this is where the true artist weaves their own authenticity into the constructed artwork using their consciousness. Each is important and is required for the finished art to transcend the ordinary, to reach the heights of the sublime.

Over the last twenty years I have come to keen realizations regarding California natives and their value. The journey beginning with guided instructional walks led by herbalist David Crow back in the 90's when he would lead nature walks in the Santa Monica Mountains. Davids introduction than deepened with lessons from communicating with the mighty Oaks on my property and its surroundings, when we lived in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The California native Coastal live oak was the one who spoke to me and revealed the value of native plants just as I began organizing my community to protect four large trees on an lot next to us. In an attempt to secure the safety of the trees I created a perfume devoted to them. The perfume is called “Q” for Quercus agrifolia and was the first in a series titled Californica.

The second perfume in the series, Chaparral® was birthed in October 2006 when I was researching incense. Incense was used by a variety of cultures depending on the plant material in their particular region. The indigenous people of California use the sacred white sage, Salvia apiana, to clear a space or fumigate an individual. I chose to create an incense themed perfume devoted to the California indigenous people based on the plants of the area.

The trinity mentioned above works in Chaparral like this:

Mind/Concept | Mercury/Spirit: The native plants of California, the chaparral.

Soul/Love: The soul nature of this perfume is expressed through the mindful harvesting and preparation of the plant material. The fragrance is created by hand with an intention to expand awareness of native plants.

Body/Material: actual, vital plant material used in tinctures and essential oils to represent an “authentic” fragrance of the regions native plants.

California native plants add tremendous value to a California garden including: authenticity to a landscape design, low water needs, benefits to wildlife habitat, increased biodiversity, and the ability of these plants, particularly the Coastal Live oak, to sequester carbon. Learn more about the chaparral at the website for the California Chaparral Institute.

Related links here at the journal:

Restoring the Woodland

California Dreaming

The Shadow

Medicine Wheel

Movie Monday: The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate was originally made into a film in 1962 starring Frank Sinatra, the 1959 political thriller is based on a novel by Richard Condon. Last night we watched the 2004 version starring Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep with direction from Jonathan Demme.

I found the story to be brilliant and now want to see the original. If this were remade in 2015 we could title it The Monsanto Candidate and have a reference to Hilary Clinton. Another film in this genre is the brilliant Michael Clayton.

The thing I'm wondering is when are Americans going to wake up? How many films need to be made on this topic before, as a collective, we see the truth? I'm feeling really hopeful with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders coming on the seen. What is most interesting is that he represents matriarchal principals: nature, art, consciousness, right brain, humanity so much more than the GMO aligned democratic rival Hilary Clinton.

Activism: Oaks & Bees

The season of advocacy has sprung here locally in the Woodland and within the City of Angels. First off, as mentioned previously, I've been working with my neighbors regarding a lot where four oaks were cut down prior to a building project being approved. On Thursday four of us met with the developer and his son at the field office of our local councilman Bob Blumenfield. Cesar Diaz, the planning director for Blumenfield was present at the meeting.

The gathering proved very interesting and gave us lots of information for the upcoming hearing scheduled in Van Nuys where the developer will present his project before the review board. At that time, those opposed to the project will have a chance to speak.

Meanwhile, Chelsea and Rob of HoneyLove have made tremendous headway with legalizing efforts for urban beekeeping within Los Angeles. They begun the task by getting local city councils within LA to approve it, now up to seventeen. On February 12th the City Council in downtown LA will be voting on three bee measures:

1: Legalize urban beekeeping in Los Angeles
2: Saving America’s pollinators act
3: Humane policy for live bee removal

This is THE VOTE, which will finally have Los Angeles join other major metropolitan cities all over the US and the world that have been visionary in legalizing urban beekeeping.

While I had the ear of Cesar I mentioned several sites within the Los Angeles area that have been planted with California native plants to see if Blumenfields office seemed sympathetic to the cause. It appears they are, more on that shortly.

Scent of the week: To Bee and Q of course!

Everything is Connected

I finished reading A Song of Fire and Ice, the first book of the Game of Thrones series and enjoyed it very much, although not as much as I am enjoying Cloud Atlas. I've found that the David Mitchell novel addresses so many contemporary issues and has female characters I can relate to more intimately. 

In one of the six nested stories in the novel Cloud Atlas we meet our potential dystopic future where the corporation has finally achieved control. As Obama seriously considers moving forward with the Keystone XL pipeline, supporting big oil, I can feel ourselves inching toward the future described in the book. Meanwhile the EU fragrance regulators want to further there list of banned natural materials from the palette of perfumers. I smell a corporate chemical rat.

I mentioned to a friend the other day that we use Credo as our cell phone provider because of their progressive values but am conflicted because I want an I-phone and they don't offer service for the I-phone. His response was, "We are all just ants, supporting Credo over ATT makes no difference." Well, I refuse to entertain that limiting belief system and counter with what transpired here in the woodland with saving seven oaks.

Although the corporation appears to be making great strides I'm holding out for humans to wake up to what is in their best interest. I'm just about finished with the Cloud Atlas novel, next stop will be Mutant Message Down Under and seeing Cloud Atlas once more this time by way of a BluRay disc.